Agitator for mechanical stokers



Apr. 10,1923. 1,451,141

H. G. BURRILL' AGITATOR` FOR MECHANICAL sfroKERs Filed 11m/.'18, 1921 "-119-2: f 3g? Y enferma 1 31a/venlo@ Patented Apr. 10, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATEN'IA OFFICE.

HAROLD G. BURRILL, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND. i

AGITATOR FOR MECHANICAL STOKERS.

Application led November 18,1921. Serial No. 516,022.

the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to agitators for mechanical stokers.

To provide means for agitating the fuel in the hopper of a mechanical stoker so that the fuel will be fed continuously to the mechanism that delivers it to the grate.

To provide meansl for agitating the fuell in the hopper of a mechanical stokerA which can be readily attached to stokers now inuse Without requiring any changes in their' construction.

To provide means for agitating the fuel in the hopper of a mechanical Stoker which shall be so arranged that it will agitate the fuel more in the direction in which it is to be fed towards the combustion chamber than in the direction opposite thereto so that thev forces acting contrary to the force of gravity or other force which is inducing the movement of the :fuel towards said chamber ,will be minimized.

These and other objects of my 4invention `will become apparentin the following speciplied thereto, ,when viewed Ain the direction.,

of the arrow 2 in Fig. 1. f

Fig. 3 is a side view of the propeller used lin, myimproved agitator, together with the thrust shaft .supporting same.

Fig. 4` is a view of he parts shown'inFig.I y

Q3 looking in the directionof:-thearrow 4 insaid-fig'ure. v

, In llledlawings;

10 represents part of thebrick wallof,- a

denitely l furnace'to which the Stoker 11 isapplied.

The stoker 11 may be of any, approved design having a hopper 12 and upper and lower rams l13 and 14, respectively, for feeding fuelto the channel 15 which conveys it -to the combustion chamber of thefurnace.

All vof the foregoing parts may be of any usual or'approved construction and they are merely illustrated as representative of vmeans for, feeding and delivering fuel to a channel which conveys it to the combustion chamber ofva furnace when said furnace is part of a boiler setting or used 'for other Among the objects of my invention are purposes.

No matter what type of mechanism is employed for feeding the fuel from the hopperI reciprocated'by the connecting rod 1 7, the

latter being connected to the crank pin 18 forming a part of the shaft 19 and said shaft is revolved in any approved manner. f y

Therod 16is pivotally connected at 20 to the. connecting rod -17 and the upper v.end ofvsaid rod is mounted within 'the tube 21,

-a pin 22 serving toprevent relative .longitudinal displacement of said rod and' tube.

. 'rhe pin 22 is used to connect the rod 16 and tube 21 in order to provide a member-having a 'definiteshearing strength which by its shearingwill prevent damage to more ex- -pensive parts should large lumps of coal or pieces of rock become wedged within the hopper 12, as hereinafter explained. y

The upper end of the tube 21 is connected by the pivot 23 to the lever 24 and said pivot i may be introduced into anyone of a series of holes such as 25 in said lever whereby the angular movement of said lever may be varied as desired'.

. The lever 24 is secured to the `square shaft.l

and revolubly mounted in bearings 27-27 secured to the channel iron 2,8, and the'latter is supported by the furnace setting 12 y,or

any vother approved way.

v secured upon the shaftv26. Guides sueltas Thrust' shafts such as` 29 `are pi'vot'ally` `26,1the extremities of which are cylindrical 32 are secured within the hopper y12andthe thrustshaftsC 29 are slidably mounted' in holes" providedk therein.

Collars such as 33 and 34 are secured upon the thrust shaft 29 and-the propeller 35 is slidably mounted upon said shaft so that it can have a limited sliding movement be'- tWeen said collars.

The propeller 35 is"forii1ed"vv`ith a fiatbottom 36; a side 37 which is to the right of tha-'shaftA 29 in" Fig. 3f andisat' right angles to said' bottoih, a? side 38* to the`A left ofv the shaft 29'in Fig. 3, which' is also* at right angies tosai-'d bottoniqa-beveled edge 39 Which is'totheright of the shaft 29 in Fig. 3"; and a beveled edge 40 s'hoWn dotted in Fig. 4 nfhi'cli is'totheleftofthe shaft 29 when the propeller 35 is' in the position shoWn in Figz.'

The operationi of my iin-proved' agitator' is as follows The rod 116v and tube 2l being reciprocated in the; direction of their lengths in any ape proved manner, as for instance, by the mo- `tiont of the connecting rod 17, the lever 24' Will he given a viliatoiy motion which' will coinn'iunciate' a recipioeatoy motion to the thrust sha'i't 29 in the directionE of itsl length.

' the dimetshefe 29 niovee` downwardly fromthe' position shown in Figil 1, the collar 33 Will' press against the topa ofthe propeller 35 and the flat bottom 36 will force the coal vvithintlfe hopper 12- tovards the ram 13. l/Vhen the Shaft 2 9' is moved upwardly it slides vvvithi'n the propellerv 35 'until' the coil-lar 34 strikes the bottom 36. The propeller 35 is then moved tipvvardly and, owing to the beveled edges4 39' and 40, it- Will revolve upon the shaft 29: vvhile it is moved upwardly so that when the shaft 29 is1x avg-'ain moved downwardly, the bottom 36 vvill strike a fresh portion of coal: V y

making flat the bottom 36 of the propeller 35 and providing thebeveled edges 39 and 40', I isurfe that thepropeller vvill not turn during its downward movement but will only turn during its upward movement; consequently, it has thrusting action upon the coal downwardly andwvhen moving upwardly, it sim'ply revolves through the coal wvit'ho-ut producing any'y considerable upward 'thrust thereupon.

By this' construction 'of the propeller 35,

'I and enabled to obtain a coiisiderablel downward thrust With a minimum upWaifd thrust: and furthermore, by the turning' of the propellet the angdlar position thereof upon the p shaft 29 is continuously varied.y

The vram bei; l5 may becoiisidered asI a `fuel casing to which the coal passes by gravity from the hopper, andthe ram 13 may c'be 'consideredy as a means Working in such casing to feed the coal into the throat of the furnace. A common'poiver driven part actuaoesfooth the rein end 'egnenngineinber 35,

"and this 'part be the crank shaft 18.

TheL oonneocionefzo, io; 22, message@ 30 and 29 arel operated from the crank shaft for methodically actuating the agitator 1n the hopper?y @ne7 ofthese connections, the shear pin 22, constitutes an easily accessible andt easily replaceable safety breaking piece adapted to break easily and thus prevent damage tof other par-ts when coal or foreign material in the hopper blocks the agitator movement. It will beV noted that the safety device is so arranged that When it" breaks and renders the" agitator inoperativ'e7 this dbe's not affect' the continued operationl of the vram".

Thus, itl will be seenA tha'tl providel asimple, cheap and effective mechanism for preventing co-nipacting" ofthe coal in the" lower regionv of thev hopper" 112" and: thereby insure al continuons delivery of fuer to the mecha nism :for delivering it to the combustion Chamber' i:V i fllIljC; i

While I have shown one' embodiment" of my'i'nventiomit ifstoV be understood that unlessy specifically' pointed' out the' claims, I do not desire' to be limited to said construction, for'many changes maybe madetherein and many equivalents may' be used" in lieu of thel elements which I illustrate Without departing from the spiritv of'my invention'.

I claim 1 1. The combination with a fiielihopper, of means for positively moving fuel from said hopper, said means comprisinga thrust shaft Y eciprocat'in in the; direction of movement" of said fuel from said hopper and in the opposite direction, and means' on said shaft shaped to" movev said fuel When said shaft is moved' in said lirs't named direetionnnd to out tl'iroughI sai'd fuel' when said shaft' is moved in the opposite direction.

2. The combination with'y a .furnace oomprising a combustion chamber anda stoker comprising a fuel hopper, of lmeans forpositively' moving fuel from said hoppensaid means comprising a thrust shaft -reciprocating inthe direction of movement ofV said fuel freni said hopper and in theopposite direction, a propeller 4loosely mounted on said shaft and shaped to move said fuel without revolvingvvhen said shaft is moved in the'irst named direction andro revolve while moving through saidy fuel when said shaft isv moved in the opposite direction, means ,for reciproeating" said shaft, and meansv foi` moving 'said fuel to said. ooinhnstion chamber from said hopper,

3. The combinationwith a furnace comprising la combustion chamber and ay stoken comprising a fuelhopper, of'meansfor positively moving lfuel from said. hopper, said means comprising` a thrust .shaft reciprocating in the direction of movement of said` fuel from said hopper and in thelopposit'e direction, a propellerl loosely mounted on said shaft and shaped to move said fuel without revolving when said shaft is moved in the first named direction and to revolve while moving through said fuel when said shaft is moved in the opposite direction, means for reciprocating said shaft, means for moving said fuel to said combustio-n chamber from said hopper and collars on said shaft permitting relative axial movement of said propeller thereon. l

et. The combination with a fuel ho-pper, of means for positively moving fuel from said hopper, said means comprising a thrust shaft reciprocating in the direction of movement of said fuel from said hopper and in the opposite direction, means on said Shaft shaped to move said fuel when said shaft is moved in said first named direction and to cut through said fuel when said shaft is moved in the opposite direction, means for moving said shaft and a breaking piece in said last named means' adapted to fracture when said fuel presents undue resistance to said first named means.

5. Mechanism for feeding coal to a furnace comprising a coal hopper, a casing to which coal passes from the hop-per by gravity, means working in the casing toI feed coal from the casing into the throat of the furnace, a power driven part for driving said means, a movable member Within thehopper 30 adapted and arranged.Ik to agitate the coal 1 therein to assist its descent into saidcasing, Y and connections from said power driven part form methodically actuating the agitating member within the hopper, said connections comprising an easily accessible and replaceable safety breaking piece adapted easily to fracture, and thus prevent damage to other parts when coal or foreign material in the hopper blocks the movement of said agitating member, and sov arranged that the agitating member is thus rendered inoperative without interrupting the actuation of said feeding means.

6. The combination with a furnace comprising a combustion 'chamber and a Stoker comprising a fuel hopper, of means for agitating the fuel in saidv hopper to aid its movement therefrom, means for movingy said fuel to said combustion chamber from said hopper, independent power operated mechanisms actuating each of said means, and a breaking piece in the mechanism for actuating said first named means adapted to fracture when said first named means meets an 55 

